Fidan Ekiz talks with director Asli Özarslan about the film and Turkey.

Fidan Ekiz is
a Dutch Journalist with Turkish roots. Fidan knows the area of the film, Cizre
in the south east of Turkey, very well. One day she met a man on the way to
Cizre who asked, “has the war started? Or what the hell is going on here”.

Fidan will talk with Asli Özarslan, director of Dil Leyla, and Bedel Bayrak about
what “the hell” is going on and about the “forgotten war” in the south east of
Turkey. And about how Leyla Imret is
doing these days. Almost two years ago film director Asli Özarslan
saw an article in a German newspaper about Leyla Imret. The article talked about Leyla being from Germany and the youngest mayor in Turkey. This information catched
her attention. Bedel Bayrak is active in the Hague Peace Projects in The
Hague by organizing dialogue meetings between Turks, Kurds and Armenians.

Leyla Imret grows up in Cizre, in the
heart of the Kurdish resistance. When she is five, her father – a guerrilla
fighter – is killed. Leyla is sent to Germany to live with an aunt. Twenty-one
years later, she returns. She is welcomed back very enthusiastically as the
lost daughter and is even elected as mayor, the youngest of Turkey. However,
her relentless positivism to improve her birthplace is soon replaced by fear
and uncertainty. Read more about Leyla and watch a short clip about her.